Following controversial comments about the death of former Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp by newly Democratic Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter on Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS, neither Sunday’s CBS Evening News nor Monday’s Early Show made any mention of the remarks.
While talking to Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer, Specter suggested that if members of Congress had supported his legislative efforts on cancer research funding, people like Kemp may still be alive and certain cancers may have been cured:
And one of the items that I’m working on, Bob, is funding for medical research. I’ve been the spear carrier to increase medical research. And I’ve even established a Web site, specterforthecure.com, to try to get people to put more pressure on Congress to join me in getting more funding. This medical research has been a reawakening-- the ten billion dollars. We were about to lose a whole generation of scientists. And now they’re enthused. There are fifteen thousand applications to be granted. If we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer, we would have cured many strains. I think Jack Kemp would be alive today. And that research has saved or prolonged many lives, including mine. Now, as the New York Times pointed out in a column today, when you talk about life and death and medical research, that’s a much more major consideration on what I can do, continuing in the Senate, contrasted with which party I belong to.
Apparently, CBS did not see anything controversial in such a self-aggrandizing statement.
—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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I took it as the usual
May 4, 2009 - 13:53 ET by bigtimerI took it as the usual politician pushing his agenda yesterday morning, I didn't take it as a slam to Kemp personally...maybe I should have, but I have been watching Specter for years and this has been a major agenda of his for so long now in the Senate, I lost count of the years.
Typical politician...thinking he'll get his agenda completed, one way or the other.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
one more thing
May 4, 2009 - 16:45 ET by klchadwickto blame conservatives for...although i'm surprised it wasn't bush directly. i can't help but think that specter is doing this for some sort of agenda because i really don't think he is stupid...but he sure is acting DUMB!
http://politicaldessert.wordpress.com
Specter remains the idiot he's always been.
May 4, 2009 - 13:55 ET by ThalpySpecter remains the idiot he's always been. How much did we have to pay the Democrats to take him? It would have been a good deal at any price.
Thalpy... I thank Toomey and
May 4, 2009 - 14:00 ET by bigtimerThalpy...
I thank Toomey and the Club for Growth...it sure wasn't the big-wigs behind the scenes in the repub party...now was it?
I'm grinning too as I post this...ya gotta love it!
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
It's probably good that
May 4, 2009 - 13:56 ET by ckc1227It's probably good that they skipped it. Any coverage would have been slanted as fact instead of just being Specter's warped opinion.
Common Political Tactic
May 4, 2009 - 13:58 ET by aakaakaakYep, it's common politics. Nothing new under the sun. It is, however, a little hypocritical. I mean, Michael J. Fox isn't even dead and look at that whole fiasco.
http://www.americanw...
What a principled man...?
May 4, 2009 - 14:13 ET by d1carterWhat a principled man...?
Well he's off to a good start
May 4, 2009 - 14:30 ET by Lord ErondHe sounds like the democrats already, putting his foot in his mouth saying stupid things. He'll fit right in with the Party of Weakness.
"They'll know we were right in the end"
-Harry Potter, The Order of the Phoenix-
Just another reason.......
May 4, 2009 - 14:35 ET by BuzzyAtlen is just another reason to kick every elected rep. or sen. out of office no matter what the party is.
Vote them out before some nut removes them with a bullet.
Another politician makes a
May 4, 2009 - 14:36 ET by HeaterManAnother politician makes a self-aggrandizing comment? STOP THE PRESSES!!!
self-aggrandizer?
May 4, 2009 - 15:10 ET by MrShyWell then, he switched to the appropriate party. The one swimming with self-aggrandizing jerks.
Barney Frank, anyone?
Joe Biden, anyone?
Nancy Pelosi, anyone?
Chuck Schumer, anyone?
oh.... BILL CLINTON, ANYONE?? (and his wife, too...)
And the list of prominent s-a'ers on the left is much longer than this, but this 6-clown traveling show immediately comes to mind.
When I say swimming, I mean, swimming.
You're the next contestant on...
THE MESSIAH IS... LEFT !!
Specter!
May 4, 2009 - 15:31 ET by blazermaniacArlen Specter & the drive by media are just a bumch of DOPES!
It's all about me!
May 4, 2009 - 15:45 ET by GalvanicLike his peers, Specter feels compelled to remind us yet again of his tireless work for the public, and this time the theme is the fight to cure cancer (Not that he is self-interested in the subject).
So, according to Specter, had we only listened to Nixon, Jack Kemp would not have died of cancer.
Give it a rest, Specter.
Galv... Specter kills
May 4, 2009 - 17:43 ET by bigtimerGalv...
Specter kills me...how in the hell does he think he is still alive, he has had cancer twice, in and out of remission, the chemo and whatever treatments he has been given are from where?
Plus they now have a new chemo treatment that goes directly to the problems instead of killing all of your body...to put it bluntly...
He is an ungrateful political whore, who can pay for his treatments by who?
US...that is who...they have a whole different set of programs, medical, retirement etc that us minions who pay for them.
I'm going to stop now, but he is maddenining...a self-serving ungrateful man, who should be nothing but grateful.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Specter is a joke
May 4, 2009 - 16:04 ET by kevinm13Sen. Specter should be ashamed of himself. He seems to be making stupid comments to keep himself in the news, but he is losing himself his seat in 2010.
Specter
May 4, 2009 - 22:18 ET by needleYet another poster boy for Term Limits.
Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.
Hey, spincter, how about
May 4, 2009 - 16:16 ET by jdhawkHey, spincter, how about streamlining and reducing the cost and time it takes to bring drugs to market? It makes little difference that our scientists develop new drugs if they take $1 billion dollars plus and 10 + plus years to bring to market.
Then, once the drugs get to market, how about standing aside and allowing the companies that bet on these new drugs to make a profit instead of vilifying them as "vultures?"
As if any evidence were needed?
May 4, 2009 - 17:25 ET by SlyrrIs there any doubt that this guy was never a Republican? Note how quickly and easily he slides right into the media's Matrix Pods to live in their world of virtual reality. He fit in so smoothly and easily that it seemed effortless on his part, most likely because it WAS effortless.
This dingus has been lusting to say all this stuff for ages, but had to hold his tongue because of that little "R" next to his name. Now he sounds like like one of them, bashing Republicans and accusing them of causing hurricanes, cancer, VD, and homophobia. And it's because he always WAS one of them.
I guarantee you this loser has been practicing these kinds of speeches in the mirror every night at home during his entire career as a 'republican'.
Good riddance. As if losing his 'vote' was some kind of loss? We never had his vote in the first place. If he happens to win election as a Democrat in that state, nothing will change. He'll vote exactly they way he always voted - with Democrats. And the Media is acting as if we've 'lost' his vote and that it's some kind of defeat for the GOP in general?
Still, I hope he loses - either the state election or the primary election against a Democrat rival. Send this bum to the dung heap where he belongs. And if possible - revoke his 'lifetime pay' because he doesn't deserve one more penny of taxpayer money. Let him live the way he and his cohorts have been forcing everyone ELSE to live.
No guarantees
May 4, 2009 - 22:27 ET by nkviking75Specter has had at least two bouts with cancer, and he's lived longer than Kemp. There are too many variables involved for Specter to guarantee that Kemp would have lived longer with more government-funded research. Unless you have the government-as-god syndrome.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
government-as-god syndrome
May 4, 2009 - 22:50 ET by botgand here i didn't think he switched for ideology, guess i was wrong.
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” -- Chief Justice John Roberts